This article comes with a warning label.
You probably already know this, but listen: If you are going to spend any time with a four-year-old─you had better be rested up and on your toes.
Their little minds are sponges, eager to soak up all the information they can “why?” you into sharing with them. So, you need to be prepared to answer some pretty deep questions like: “Why don’t fish blink their eyes?” or “Why did God name His Son Jesus?” And you should also be aware that they have almost total recall of everything you say (here comes the warning part), so keep in mind that your answers to their questions are likely to be repeated to their Sunday school teacher, your next door neighbor and the lady at the drive through window at the bank.
My little four-year-old grandson asked me the other day, when we were riding in the pickup truck with my daddy (his great-grandfather). “Granny, how do you know that Grandpa is your daddy?” I have always called my earthly father, Daddy, never Dad or Pop or father. And, although I am now on the backside of mid-fifty, I still call him “Daddy.” I suppose I always will.
Well, I instantly knew that this was one of those deep four-year-old questions, and that he really wanted to know how everyone just seemed to automatically know who their father is. So I answered, “Well, every time I say ‘Daddy’ he’s the one who always answers, so I guess that’s how I know that he’s my daddy.” He cocked his little head to the side, thinking about that for a second and seemed to think that was a reasonable answer. We all laughed of course. It was one of those funny, endearing moments in time spent with precious family, making extraordinary memories while doing ordinary things.
Later, this little conversation crossed my mind and while giggling to myself at the memory of it, I got to thinking. Does the heavenly Father recognize you as His child? Are you a child of the King? When you say, “father” does He answer?
Like it or not, you are either serving the father of all lies or you are serving the Father in heaven. Regardless of what you conclude on your own or what you may have heard someone else say (sadly, even from some pulpits these days) there are only two father-choices.
And, by the way, they are choices. It is your choice which one answers when you say: “father.” But please understand that if you do not choose the heavenly Father by accepting His Son Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins, then you are choosing the father of all lies, by default. Period. End of discussion.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
Time is almost up. I can feel it. I think just about everyone can feel it. Something big is about to happen around here. So I implore you, please make sure that you are certain that you have made the right choice and that you know who answers when you say, “father.”